I made this recently. It's not perfect as it comes from a multitude of sources stitched together over many different years with different measurement procedures, and I had to adjust some numbers to match sources, but I think overall it is a pretty accurate reflection of reality. I started with the most recent census data for different countries and found other sources to fill in the gaps.

Is Switzerland really predominatly Catholic?I thought Calvinists formed the majority.

Well some parts of Switzerland were historically Protestant and others were Catholic. However with increasing secularization, Protestants tended to leave the church more than Catholics. The case is the same with other countries such as the Netherlands.

Is Switzerland really predominatly Catholic?I thought Calvinists formed the majority.

Well some parts of Switzerland were historically Protestant and others were Catholic. However with increasing secularization, Protestants tended to leave the church more than Catholics. The case is the same with other countries such as the Netherlands.

Yes, especially when it comes to nominal affiliation. Protestants have a habit of either lovign or hating the church of their birth.

Title: Re: World Religion Map by National Subdivision
Post by: The scissors of false economy on February 02, 2014, 09:06:32 pm

Some of the patterns are quite interesting such as the Protestant belt in Central America or the more Buddhist vs. more secular areas of Japan.

But are the non-yellow areas in Japan light browns or light greys? If the latter, realisticidealist, how on earth did your sources distinguish between Buddhist and Shinto practice in Japan to that degree?

I thought the UK was plurality Catholic now? (Speaking of the UK, why did you only divide them up by the Home Countries- I would have at least used the regional level)

England is nowhere near being plurality Catholic (not that the Census records this information) The most reliable indicator of denominationalism is the British Social Attitudes Survey which in 2013 suggested Britain as a whole was plurality Non-Religious (48%) Anglicans account for 20% and Catholics for 9%. Certainly at current trends Anglican might end up at 15% or so with Catholicism at around 10% (adherence to Catholicism, suggesting a cultural rather than religious association has flatlined since the survey began in 1983) with the Non-Religious breaking 55-60% (Nones are already at 60% amongst the under 30ís and about 42% in the formal Census) but England will not be plurality Catholic any time soon.

The trend towards Catholicism is partly due to the reasons other posters have mentioned already and because of immigration; the high number of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese immigrants, for example, has boosted Catholic strength in Switzerland.

The Sub-Saharan African part of the map - with its divisions between denominations - is, well, *interesting*.

EDIT: Speaking of which, where did you get the data? And Furthermore, do you have a blank National subdivision World map to use as a template?

The world map is a modified version of this one (http://www.lordsander.net/WorldSubdivisions.png). Most of my data sources are listed on the map. If you have a specific country in mind, I can probably find my source again.

Some of the patterns are quite interesting such as the Protestant belt in Central America or the more Buddhist vs. more secular areas of Japan.

But are the non-yellow areas in Japan light browns or light greys? If the latter, realisticidealist, how on earth did your sources distinguish between Buddhist and Shinto practice in Japan to that degree?

I used data from Japan's Statistics Bureau. It appears they counted some people as practicing both Shinto and Buddhism. I'm not sure what their methodology beyond that is, though.

Very detailed. One of the most informative maps posted on the forum :)

Just a few points on my home turf. If you are calculating 'No Religion' for Scotland then census guidance suggests that should include those who not only actively declare 'No Religion' on their Census box, but also don't fill it in ('Religion not stated') as faith is a declaration yadda yadda. That boosts the grey somewhat.

It's interesting how distinct each of the Baltic states are, with Lithuania recorded as heavily Catholic, Latvia as more diverse but predominantly Lutheran, and Estonia as mostly non-religious. I'd never realized that there was so much heterogeneity between the religious geographies of those countries before.

Title: Re: World Religion Map by National Subdivision
Post by: Trends are real, and I f**king hate it on April 21, 2015, 02:36:30 pm

Very detailed. One of the most informative maps posted on the forum :)

Just a few points on my home turf. If you are calculating 'No Religion' for Scotland then census guidance suggests that should include those who not only actively declare 'No Religion' on their Census box, but also don't fill it in ('Religion not stated') as faith is a declaration yadda yadda. That boosts the grey somewhat.

As a general rule, I discarded anyone who didn't respond to the question for all countries. This was mainly because the response rates varied heavily between countries, and doing so made the data more consistent across national borders.

One of the most interesting/new to me bits, I think, is how northern China is areligious but southern China is... Taoist mostly I guess? Possibly the pink areas have significant overlap with non-Han ethnicities? Huh. Like, I knew that China had some Muslims out west but I was pretty ignorant of most other patterns there.

Also I am wondering about the Sikhs in North America. The tan bits in Guyana/Suriname, or something microscopically small in Canada that I can't see?

One of the most interesting/new to me bits, I think, is how northern China is areligious but southern China is... Taoist mostly I guess? Possibly the pink areas have significant overlap with non-Han ethnicities? Huh. Like, I knew that China had some Muslims out west but I was pretty ignorant of most other patterns there.

Also I am wondering about the Sikhs in North America. The tan bits in Guyana/Suriname, or something microscopically small in Canada that I can't see?

Yeah, the Sikhs are in Vancouver and Toronto.

Title: Re: World Religion Map by National Subdivision
Post by: The scissors of false economy on April 21, 2015, 11:15:18 pm

Now that I'm doing that religious maps of Japan series, I'd appreciate realisticidealist's source for Japan if he still has it, since it's almost certainly significantly more recent than the source I've been using.

Now that I'm doing that religious maps of Japan series, I'd appreciate realisticidealist's source for Japan if he still has it, since it's almost certainly significantly more recent than the source I've been using.

It's not nearly as detailed as what you've been using, and my methodology was a bit ad hoc. I started with the data here (http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/nenkan/1431-23.htm), which has total religious adherents, total religious organizations, and religious organizations by prefecture. I used religious organizations as a proxy for adherents, adjusting for the discrepancy in the national totals to reduce the overrepresentation of Christianity.

The big problem then is that the dataset allows individuals and organizations to be both Buddhist and Shinto. This time, I actually used your data as a guide to disentangling the two. It became a bit of guesswork at times, but I think the result is fairly close.

One of the most interesting/new to me bits, I think, is how northern China is areligious but southern China is... Taoist mostly I guess? Possibly the pink areas have significant overlap with non-Han ethnicities? Huh. Like, I knew that China had some Muslims out west but I was pretty ignorant of most other patterns there.

Also I am wondering about the Sikhs in North America. The tan bits in Guyana/Suriname, or something microscopically small in Canada that I can't see?

Yeah, the Sikhs are in Vancouver and Toronto.

Specifically Surrey and Brampton, respectively (I believe). Would it be possible to see more detailed maps of Canada's major urban centres?

realisticidealist, have you ever considered submitting this to The Atlantic or similar publication? This sounds like the type of thing they'd go for. Not sure what the legalities around getting something to let them use it, though.

Also - can you confirm if the two blue Protestant dots south of Hangzhou are Wenzhou & its inland county?

I think the red army has the strongest position right now, IMO, as long as it shores up its defenses against the green army. They could make a strong push up into blue North America. With those two continents' bonus reinforcements, it'd be a cakewalk after that.

This is great! I had no idea China had a religious north-south division like that. I'm also surprised there's not more irreligiousity in Scandinavia, though I assume that's just a result of differences in how this is recorded from country to country.

Title: Re: World Religion Map by National Subdivision
Post by: The scissors of false economy on April 23, 2015, 09:34:15 am

As I understand it there's still a strong cultural/social assumption in Scandinavia that one will be baptized into the relevant Lutheran state church and use it for weddings and funerals, even if one is otherwise thoroughly irreligious.

As I understand it there's still a strong cultural/social assumption in Scandinavia that one will be baptized into the relevant Lutheran state church and use it for weddings and funerals, even if one is otherwise thoroughly irreligious.

It is called a "four corner Christian". Someone who only goes to church when he/she turns the four big corners: Baptism, confirmation, wedding and funeral.

It is gradually eroding in the big cities, but very much a reality elsewhere.

realisticidealist, have you ever considered submitting this to The Atlantic or similar publication? This sounds like the type of thing they'd go for. Not sure what the legalities around getting something to let them use it, though.

I suppose I could look into something like that. I'm not really sure how to approach such things, though.

One of the most interesting/new to me bits, I think, is how northern China is areligious but southern China is... Taoist mostly I guess? Possibly the pink areas have significant overlap with non-Han ethnicities? Huh. Like, I knew that China had some Muslims out west but I was pretty ignorant of most other patterns there.

Also I am wondering about the Sikhs in North America. The tan bits in Guyana/Suriname, or something microscopically small in Canada that I can't see?

Yeah, the Sikhs are in Vancouver and Toronto.

Would it be possible to see more detailed maps of Canada's major urban centres?

Yeah, I can do that. Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are the most interesting if I remember correctly.

EDIT: While I'm at it, some of the Australian and New Zealand cities are pretty interesting, too.

Best map ever! The only improvement I can think of is splitting islam into Sunni, Shia, Ibadi. Regional data must be hard to come by but if it could be done for China and Subsahara Africa (places where I had never previously seen such detailed maps), it must be possible.

I can confirm the irreligion in northern China, didn't know it was just in the north though. Oh and isolated spots of blue in China are not a solely modern phenomenon. Look up the Taiping rebellion.

I'd love to split up Islam, but there are so few statistics on it with any sort of geographic specificity. I can only think of about two Islamic countries that ask Shia/Sunni/etc. I could estimate it if I had a proxy like ethnicity, but that's not asked that often either. Heck, it's rare to have an Islamic country that even has a census.

There are several Protestant areas in Ireland, but they all have ~200 people or fewer. I can't find much information on them. Most are close to the border with Northern Ireland. There's a handful of blue small areas in Dublin and three in Athlone.

It's the Nineveh Plains. I don't think it's centered on any one city, but it looks like the largest town in that district is Bakhdida. There's a lot of Orthodox there, too, or at least there were prior to ISIS.

I compiled China based on a number of sources. I started by using ethnicity data from the most recent census to estimate the number of Muslims, Buddhists, Indigenous, and some Taoists. I then used a slightly regressed version of Asia Harvest's estimate of the Christian population, and finally estimated the remaining number of Taoists/Chinese Folk Religionists based on UMich's China Religion Explorer and based on several local surveys by UCLA and others. I assumed the remainder was nonreligious.

I compiled China based on a number of sources. I started by using ethnicity data from the most recent census to estimate the number of Muslims, Buddhists, Indigenous, and some Taoists. I then used a slightly regressed version of Asia Harvest's estimate of the Christian population, and finally estimated the remaining number of Taoists/Chinese Folk Religionists based on UMich's China Religion Explorer and based on several local surveys by UCLA and others. I assumed the remainder was nonreligious.

realisticidealist, have you ever considered submitting this to The Atlantic or similar publication? This sounds like the type of thing they'd go for. Not sure what the legalities around getting something to let them use it, though.

I suppose I could look into something like that. I'm not really sure how to approach such things, though.

More likely it'll be posted without attribution (or any attempt at discussion, for that matter) in another "40 Maps That Explain X" series, unfortunately. Be vigilant.

Congratulations on nearly making the front page of Reddit with something as substantive and conscientious as this, by the way.

realisticidealist, have you ever considered submitting this to The Atlantic or similar publication? This sounds like the type of thing they'd go for. Not sure what the legalities around getting something to let them use it, though.

I suppose I could look into something like that. I'm not really sure how to approach such things, though.

More likely it'll be posted without attribution (or any attempt at discussion, for that matter) in another "40 Maps That Explain X" series, unfortunately. Be vigilant.

Probably Vox Maps...

Quote

Congratulations on nearly making the front page of Reddit with something as substantive and conscientious as this, by the way.

Thanks. I was hoping for about +1,000 or so with it, but it just kept climbing to over +3,000. I've actually started on a map that was suggested in the comments: a religious diversity map as measured by Shannon entropy. It will be a bit biased toward Christian countries, but from what I've seen of it it's still pretty interesting.

Apparently someone published these maps in The Independent (https://www.indy100.com/article/these-maps-will-change-the-way-you-think-about-religion--WJmWnGgjrvZ). I was scrolling down my Facebook feed and they came up in the thumbnail. Knew I recognized the style from somewhere.